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Matsumoto, Brunswick East

Paul

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22 April 2015

Matsumoto Brunswick East is a stalwart in this part of town. Open since 2003, we have driven past countless times but have never gone in for a meal. One Friday evening we found ourselves at home, tired and hungry for something so decided to give this local Japanese restaurant a try.

After visiting Japan twice last year, our ideas about what Japanese food is have changed quite a lot. Japan does, in many ways, “ruin Japanese food” outside of Japan simply because the standards and quality are so high over there. It is important then, when reviewing a Japanese restaurant outside of Japan to compare it to the food of the city in which the restaurant is located.

When eating at Matsumoto, we used our favourite Japanese restaurants in Melbourne as a point of comparison, not our favourite Japanese restaurants in Japan. What is also true, however is that what Melburnians demand from Japanese food in this city has changed immensely since 2003.

The space itself is minimalist and uses a lot of wood with clean lines. It’s very much in tune with the Japanese aesthetic. Food wise the menu is quite extensive, with a good selection of sushi and sashimi along with a variety of favourites like Tonkatsu, Yakitori, Teppenyaki and Karaage. A small range of teas, non-alcoholic Japanese drinks and Japanese beer, sake and other alcoholic drinks are offered.

At the start of the meal a small plate of pickles is brought to the table. This is very common in Japan but still not very common in Australia and was a nice touch.

Takoyaki ($8.00)

Takoyaki is one of our favourite Japanese dishes. A typical street food option, Takoyaki are octopus pancake balls topped with Japanese BBQ sauce, Japanese mayonnaise and bonito flakes. The flavour of Matsumoto’s takoyaki was spot on, with each ball tasting just the way it was supposed to. Unfortunately they were relatively cool when they came to our table and instead of being soft and oozing like they should be, these takoyaki had quite a dense, crunchy batter.

Tonkatsu ($19.00)

This dish was great value, as it contained two quite large pieces of pork but unfortunately didn’t hit the mark as much as it should have. The pork was dry, the crumbing was not light like it should be with a tonkatsu and the second pork cutlet was simply put on top of the other, which meant that it was quite soggy. I’ve never had a tonkatsu in Australia that came close to what I had in Japan however even by Melbourne standards this was disappointing. There wasn’t any shredded cabbage on the side either, which really should be included whenever tonkatsu is served.

Jyo Sushi ($26.00)

The Jyo sushi was by far the highlight of the night. Exposed to the dining room was the sushi counter, and it was clear to see that all of the sushi was being made fresh to order.

The Jyo platter contained flame seared scallop & salmon, tuna, eel, prawn, tobiko & surf clam sushi rolls. The seafood was of very good quality and the rice was at the perfect temperature for sushi – not too cold as is often the case in Australia. each mouthful went down a treat.

Our experience at Matsumoto was a mixed one. The space was nice and service was very good. Food wise there was no excusing the tonkatsu however the sushi was much better than we had expected and went a long way towards redeeming the meal. Our tip if you visit then, is to skip the cooked options and go straight for the sushi. Diner’s expectations have changed since 2003, and Matsumoto needs to adapt if it wants to be considered one of the best.

Matsumoto

48 Lygon Street
Brunswick East
Victoria 3057
Australia

Telephone: (03) 9380 9288
Email: n/a
Website: http://matsumoto.com.au/

Open
Lunch
Mon – Sat: 1:30am to 3:00pm
Dinner
Sun – Thu: 5:30pm to 10:30pm
Fri – Sat: 5:30pm to 11:00pm

Triplet Falls In The Otways

Travel

Paul

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21 April 2015

0

Triplet Falls in Victoria’s Great Otway National Park (The Otways) is a beautiful site that anyone visiting Victoria should make an effort to visit. As a Western Australian I was completely ignorant about the fact that Victoria even had rainforests. I’d heard of the Otways and the Great Ocean Road but didn’t really know much beyond that.

Imagine my surprise when driving from Adelaide to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road when, instead of keeping to the coast, Lauren and I drove slightly inland and were greeted by the majestic sights of a lush, majestic, ancient rainforest. Driving towards the Otways, you are greeted with a stunning vista but despite this, it’s still a surprise to discover what’s inside the rainforest.

The Otways contain a variety of things to do – camping, tree walks, forest walks, coastal walks, picnicking and mountain bike riding to name a few. Lauren and I only had half a day that we could dedicated to the area so, being based in Apollo Bay that night and heading back to Melbourne, we decided that a visit to Triplet Falls was our best option.

Triplet Falls consists of 3 waterfalls nestled amongst a portion of rainforest that consists mostly of mossy glades of tree ferns shadowed by Mountain Ash and Myrtle Beech.

The Triplet Falls walk is 2km long and takes approximately 1 hour to complete. The walk is signposted and teaches visitors about the history of the rainforest, the native flora and fauna as well as the logging that occurred in the area for about 20 years in the early 1900s.

Some remnants from the logging era have been retained in the area. It’s hard to imagine that such a peaceful, beautiful part of the world was subject to such destruction less than 100 years ago.

If you’ve got the time, there’s an alternative route, The Little Aire Walk, which is 4.5km long and takes approximately 2.5 hours to complete. This walk takes visitors along the old logging line and provides views of not just the Triplet Falls, but the Little Aire Falls also.

Markets In May 2015: Upcoming Event

Paul

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20 April 2015

1

Here’s an event for all of you Sydneysiders that we heard about the other day and had to share with you. Markets In May is a community initiative that encourages market organisers around Sydney to offer free interactive events during the month of May. The initiative aims to promote the benefits of shopping locally and to collectively build awareness around the importance of markets in the community.

Local Market Guide produced Markets In May last year and are doing so again in 2015. Events will include farmer talks and workshops, market tours, masterclasses and kids activities. The whole thing kicks off on 30 April with the ‘Taste & Talk’ Market at the Martin Place Amphitheatre.

The’Taste & Talk’ Market will showcase 12 top local producers, sharing their stories and representing the increasing number of artisans and food producers who trade at local markets. In addition Australian Nutritionist and author of the ‘The Happy Cookbook’ Lola Berry will be on stage cooking up healthy and tasty treats as well as talking with each of the stallholders.

For more information, check out the official site. In the meantime, here are the profiles of the stallholders who will be showcasing their wears at the ‘Taste & Talk’ Market.

Ferment It
James and Bel from Ferment It are the creators & producers of this raw, 100% organic, pre & probiotic fermented gourmet range. Their passion, culinary and educational experience has helped to deliver these delicious condiments containing lactobacillus strains. The fermented foods help replenish beneficial intestinal flora and promote a healthy lifestyle.

Spice Vine
A family owned, multi award winning (Sydney Royal Food, Royal Hobart Fine Foods, Food Magazine) business, Spice Vine prides itself on using local produce (fresh herbs and extra virgin olive oil) and quality spices to create FRESH marinades, stir-fry pastes and simmer sauces. Small batch production with minimal processing, no preservatives, colourings or flavourings ensures integrity of ingredients and depth of flavour. Products keep fresh for up to six weeks refrigerated. The resulting products enable seasoned or novice cooks to quickly and effortlessly create delectable, nourishing and interesting meals at home.

Sydney Salt Co
Sydney Salt Co. is a salt, spice and tea merchant unique in its offering of over 40 different types of artisan salts from Australia and abroad. They have extensive in-house expertise in cookery and tea science; called upon when sourcing and developing its premium range of pure spices, spice blends and teas.

The Bagel Shop
Straight from New York, these bagels are made using quality ingredients and traditional methods to bring Sydneysiders a real, authentic, New York-style water bagel. Hand rolled, kettle boiled and baked with tons of love.

Bačka Smallgoods
Bačka Smallgoods are made in the traditional Eastern European way. They are air cured and fermented using time and high quality ingredients. All Bačka products are preservative and gluten free, this means no nitrates or nitrites. We smoke our products using REAL Australian hard woods.
Our range of products include traditional Italian Salami and pepperoni, Hungarian Salami, traditional Chorizo, Italian cacciatore, sliced prosciutto, pork and beef Kulin, Mettwurst, speck and our famous Beef Jerky.

A. Retief Wines
A.Retief is a boutique wine label made by Wagga-born and bred Alex Retief, which, since inception in 2008, has carved out a niche as a hand crafted, adventurous label that specialises in the cool climate regions of southern New South Wales. The fruit for A.Retief is carefully sourced from vineyards in Tumbarumba and the Hilltops as well as the Retief family vineyard in the Gundagai wine region of NSW.

Chunky Dave’s Peanut Butter
Chunky Dave’s Peanut Butter is handmade in Sydney Australia. He only uses Australian peanuts grown in Kingaroy, Queensland and makes each batch one jar at a time. The peanuts are double roasted, salted, and ground to perfection. Then he bottles and labels each jar. Chunky Dave makes two types of Peanut Butter – Original and Chilli. gluten free, no animal products, preservatives, colours, emulsifiers, stabilisers, or sugars, Chunky Dave’s Peanut Butter is 100% awesome. No added rubbish.

Herbisaurus
Herbisaurus is a small family business making nourishing vegan food. We specialise in savoury meals and it’s our aim to prove meatless products are not only tastier but are more cost effective, better for your body, better for the planet and make you feel healthier. We currently run market stalls, we home deliver and cater functions. Herbisaurus – veganising your favourite meaty meals to help bring nutrition and health to you and your family.

Di Bella Coffee
At its very heart, the Ultimate Coffee Experience can only be achieved if we are able to deliver a consistently excellent cup of coffee from each of our signature blends. This is why we employ our own green bean buying specialist. Tasked with travelling the world’s coffee growing regions in search of the finest green beans has resulted in long-term, reciprocal and supporting relationships with farmers around the world; allowing us constant access to the premium quality green beans we need. Sourcing beans directly from the farmer gives us the unique ability to match green bean origins to our blend profiles, mitigating seasonal coffee variations, and delivering consistent signature blends year round.

Markets In May ‘Taste & Talk’ Market

When: Thursday 30 April 2015, 12:00pm to 4:00pm

Entry: Free

Where: Martin Place, Sydney

Gu-E, Brunswick

Paul

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19 April 2015

1

Gu-E Brunswick caught our eye a few months ago while driving up Sydney Road. Despite the increase in restaurants and bars in Brunswick over the past few years, on thing that has remained the same is the lack of good Asian food in the area. When we saw that a Korean restaurant had opened up, we knew we had to check it out.

Walking inside, the fitout is very on trend with exposed brick and metal, concrete walls and large Korean prints on the walls. The atmosphere is funky and friendly, with a diverse crowd ranging from younger and older groups to singles and families.

Gu-E is a Korean term that is used to describe grilled dishes that contain meat as their primary ingredient. Unsurprisingly, grilled meats feature heavily on the menu which contains a mixture of familiar Korean dishes such as bulgogi, kimchi and bibimbap as well as dishes like steamed buns, grilled skewers and stews.

There are a number of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks on offer, including a quite decent list of wine and cocktails. One of the surprises of the night were the home made non-alcoholic fruit ales, such as this lightly carbonated grape-ade that was made fresh and contained real grapes.

Mushroom Buns ($13.00 for 2)

The mushroom buns were one of the favourite things that we ate at Gu-E. The steamed buns were light and fluffy and there was just the right proportion of filling to bread. The filling contained stir fried king oyster, shitake mushrooms & fried kimchi with a great balance of flavours.

K.F.C. – Korean Fried Chicken ($18.00)

The Korean fried chicken is something that’s become quite popular in Melbourne over the past year and we were intrigued by Gu-E’s offering of 3 different kinds of fried chicken. It was the coating, rather than any sauce which distinguished the 3 flavours – sweet chilli, garlic soy & original.

Our favourite was the sweet chilli, which had a great flavour to it. The garlic soy was also quite nice however the original fell flat and really did require a sauce of some kind. The chicken itself was moist and tender and the coating was crispy and not too greasy.

Traditional Kimchi ($2.00)

The traditional kimchi was very tasty and had the nice pickled flavour that we like in a good kimchi however we were surprised by the lack of heat. It had a slight kick to it, but wasn’t particularly hot.

Beef Bulgogi ($18.00)

The beef bulgogi was really tasty with a combination of beef with broccoli, onion, carrot, bean shoots & red capsicum. It came to our table still sizzling and steaming and when the time came to eat it, the sweet marinade and the slightly charred bits of meat combined beautifully. Stir this dish if you order it – at first we were disappointed at the lack of beef but then realised that most of it was at the bottom and had gotten stuck to the pan due to stone pot cooking process. These bottom bits were actually the tastiest!

While Gu-E might not serve up the best or the most authentic Korean food that we’ve tried in Melbourne, the food was nonetheless tasty and our experience pleasant, making Gu-E a welcome addition to the area.

Gu-E

51 Sydney Road
Brunswick
Victoria 3056
Australia

Telephone: (03) 9380 9555
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://brunswick.gu-e.com.au/

Open
Mon – Sun: 7:30am to 9:00pm

S01E05 – Season 1, Episode 5

Chris

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19 April 2015

0

PODCAST | In this episode Chris wonders where the Italian craft beers are and is immediately shot down for ignorance, Paul talks about the former pharmacy turned Pirate Bar he discovered in Perth, and Jeff chronicles his insatiable and unsuccessful search for beef ribs in Melbourne. Chris also learns about the existence of a Berliner Weisse style of beer, and we all attempt to find the words to describe a pink beer.

Featured Beers: Miss Pinky by Boatrocker, Honey Pot Saison by Modus Operandi Brewing Co.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Healthy Breakfast Panna Cotta: Recipe

Lauren

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18 April 2015

0

Yes, that’s right, panna cotta for breakfast… that’s also healthy!

So many times when trying to lower the calorie content of a dish that’s normally high in calories, flavour is one of the things that’s sacrificed. This breakfast panna cotta recipe however manages to be low in fat and sugar but high in flavour. We have used milk and natural yoghurt instead of cream, a sprinkle of honey instead of sugar and spices like cinnamon and vanilla to give the panna cotta depth in flavour. The topping of oats and almonds adds some texture to finish off this well balanced delight.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes / Cooking Time: 10 minutes + 3 hours to set / Serves 2

Ingredients

Panna Cotta:

250g natural yoghurt
250ml full cream milk
7g gelatine powder
1 vanilla bean, halved
2.5g of light honey (e.g. orange blossom)

Topping:

10g rolled oats
5g chia seeds
10g slivered almonds
1g ground cinnamon

Method

Add the milk, vanilla bean and gelatine to a saucepan.
Place the saucepan on a low heat for 3-4 minutes until the gelatine dissolves.
Remove the saucepan from the heat.
Scrape the inside of the vanilla bean with a butter knife and add the seeds to the gelatine/milk mixture.
Discard the vanilla bean.
Whisk the yoghurt into the milk/gelatine mixture and pour it into two 250ml glasses.
Cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Once the panna cotta has set, drizzle the honey on top.
If you want to add the topping, toast the rolled oats , chia, almonds and cinnamon in a frying pan for 3 to 4 minutes over high heat.
Allow to cool and place on top of the panna cotta.

Notes

Feel free to get creative with the toppings. For example 25g of your favourite muesli, a fruit puree or fresh fruit.

Love & Food At Gran’s Table: Cookbook Review

Books

Paul

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17 April 2015

9

Inspired by the cooking of her grandmothers and their collective belief that “food made with love is the best kind of all”, Natalie Oldfied has collected over 120 recipes from 60 grandmothers across Australia and around the world. The result is “Love & Food At Gran’s Table“.

One of the things that you’ll find people saying all over the world is that their mother’s or grandmother’s cooking is the best. Growing up with the food that our grandmothers cooked for us gives it a special place in our hearts and the fact that it generally tastes really great doesn’t hurt either!

One of the things I really like about Love & Food At Gran’s Table is that it’s not just a collection of recipes, but also a collection of the stories and people behind the recipes. The book is just as much about each grandmother as it is their recipes and has a personal touch throughout. It’s nice to know what these recipes mean to the people who form part of the families from which they come.

Todd Eyre’s photography is modern food photography but each image retains a level of warmth and homeliness that’s appropriate for the book.

As for the recipes themselves, they are easy to follow and span a range of cuisines from around the world. From Jenny Nagu’s Takihi to Melanie Georgiou’s Moussaka and Di Cross’ Bacon & Egg Pie to Sagrario Ardura’s Tortilla de Patata, there’s a lot of variety for readers to try and recreate at home.

Thanks to The Cru Media we’ve got 2 copies of Love & Food At Gran’s Table (RRP $49.95) to give away to 2 readers. To enter, all you need to do is subscribe to The City Lane by entering your e-mail address into the subscribe box at the end of this post, and leaving a comment about a favourite dish that your grandmother cooks.

This competition is open to readers anywhere in the world and existing subscribers can also enter.

Entries close on Saturday 16 May 2015 and winners will be notified by e-mail on Sunday 17 May 2015.

Basquaise Squid: Recipe

Lauren

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16 April 2015

0

This dish is a twist on the classic Basquaise squid stew recipe. It is not a stew however it holds true to the Basque style which is based on using a tomato and red pepper/capsicum sauce. This flavoursome dish will warm the soul and is perfect for those cool autumn nights. It’s quick and easy as well.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes / Cooking Time: 20 minutes / Serves 4